Editorial
Academics in Iraq: how can we stop their exodus?
They are in the line of fire. More than 200 university professors have been assassinated since Saddam Hussein's regime fell. Last Tuesday (editor's note: 16 January) 70 students, professors and employees were killed in a double attack on the University of Mustansiriya, in the North of Baghdad. There is no doubt that academics are among the targets in Iraq.
«It is not surprising», says Hasni Abidi, Director of CERMAM in Geneva. «Academics are all that remains as regards critical points of view. They are the rearguard against political manipulation. Universities do not condone the presence of militias inside their walls, and often professors use the press to cast light on the drifts of the governments and of the opposition. They are the only ones who talk in their own name, and not in that of a community. They are targeted because civilians respect their points of view.»
A programmed haemorrhage
As a result, brains are massively fleeing Iraq, as laments Hasni Abidi, who is also a member of the International Support Committee for Iraqi Academics. If they choose to stay in Iraq, most academics change jobs and become grocers or taxi drivers, which are seen as slightly less dangerous activities.
«The haemorrhage is planned and that is a catastrophe. Contrary to what the current American administration believes, the reconstruction of Iraq is not a matter for construction work, but for academic research. Without doctors or engineers, what is a country worth?»
The Support committee urges the international community to take action. How? « By helping the professors and making it possible for them to keep teaching despite the danger. UNESCO is already planning on setting up a hotline for those who feel threatened. The UN agency is also planning on giving financial aid to widows, numerous since many professors refuse to withdraw from teaching by fear of not being able to support their family.»
CERMAM encourages the development of courses via post or via Internet, to make sure that students can continue their programme, even in troubled times.
-- Andres Allemand,
Published in the Tribune de Genève, 24.01.07
Translated into English by Marguerite Cornu,
Research Assistant trainee
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- Origin CERMAM
- http://www.cermam.org/en/logs/editorial/how_can_we_stop_academics_from/
- Publié le 26 January 2007